to think boarding schools are no longer ok...

I guess once people have made the decision to send their children they would rather not think about the risks so they try and squish any discussion (as witnessed on this thread)

And because boarding schools rely on their reputation, there is a tendency to cover up sexual abuse. We have seen that happening again and again.
Do those who send their children to boarding school not worry about this?

Of course. But in boarding schools and children's homes (the equivalent for poor children I guess) , children are uniquely vulnerable because they are there over night and for weeks on end

https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/24729639.winchester-college-cover-up-let-john-smyth-continue-abuse/

www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-09-25/ex-deputy-head-of-boarding-school-jailed-for-abusing-20-pupils

There are so many examples, in fact there are other fairly recent ones just relating to those two schools. I don't know why people are uncomfortable to have discussions about the risks of boarding schools and keep trying to divert onto other things.

Neil Foden was seen by teachers with pupils in his car and putting his arms around them.

In a state school and it was only when the dc disclosed what was happening that anything was done.
Paedophiles are everywhere, you probably know at least one.

@Yourcatisnotsorry maybe comment on the other thread about that then? This thread is about boarding schools.

I agree with you. We are obsessed with separating children from their parents in this country. Free childcare from 9 months old etc. the vitriol about co-sleeping. Boarding school is a very small fraction of the population im more concerned about babies in nurseries 8-6 5 days a week (and I’m a full time working mum)

@StandingSideBySide He was employed until September 2020.
I understand people supporting boarding schools minimising the sexual abuse that takes place though.

This is all from 96/97
For a school that’s been going since 597AD I’m sure there’s lots of dirt to dish.
For state schools that haven’t been around for very long at all I’m sure there’s lots too.
Parents send there kids to schools with current abuse, knife crime, appalling behaviour and terrible grade outcomes, I can’t understand why they do that either.

@StandingSideBySide Other people have mentioned on this thread the real risk of sexual abuse at boarding schools. For example, at Kings School Canterbury an assistant teacher of French and German between September 1980 and September 2020, was accused of engaging in sexual activity with a boy, observing him through a keyhole undressing or bathing, etc etc.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65699c2bcc1ec5000d8eeff1/REDACTEDMilesMartinSoSdecision.pdf

The document shows alarming practices. The member of staff admits meeting with the boy and other boys in staff quarters and giving them alcohol during meetings. He alleges that meeting boys in staff quarters was normal practice at the time.

The panel noted evidence that it was common practice for housemasters to allow pupils to consume alcohol on specific occasions but it was not accepted that this would include spirits. And it gets much worse.

I personally can not understand why any parent would send their child to board in a school like this however beautiful their buildings and grounds.

Those things are highlighted as being available to both day and boarding at our school. In fact there’s specific mention of day pupils having those benefits whilst being able to return home each night. Merits of either choice are recognised. Admittedly this was different a generation ago, where boarding was very much seen as “better”, at many schools. Times have changed.

Good try
So Disappointed the school still puts so much into the local community even after the reductions
you’ve Decided to change the subject now

They just make an implicit narrative in the minds of children every single day that boarding is good.

This simply isn’t the case at our school. It’s not even an issue. Everyone mixes, the vast majority of children are happy with their situation, be that day or boarding. My children don’t want to board. Perhaps it’s an issue at schools struggling to fill boarding places, where they need to market themselves. For those schools with long waiting lists for boarding spaces, they really don’t want or need to be persuading day pupils to switch. It probably varies across schools.

Look at any website for an independent school that is viewed as good. They all push the narrative repeated throughout this thread. Encouraging independence, having fun with friends, sports and extra curricular activities, beautiful buildings and grounds.

At no point have we, as parents, or the children as day pupils, felt that we are being encouraged to go down the boarding route.

Well yes, that's how good marketing works. They don't 'encourage'. They just make an implicit narrative in the minds of children every single day that boarding is good. That's why kids in schools like yours don't walk around horrified by the dozens of institutionalised children being raised without parents side by side with them. It's all normalised and encouraged. That's my point (and no doubt why the boarding house was full).

@StandingSideBySide Thanks. The website is illuminating. Full boarding offered from 8 years old. Also read the safeguarding statement. Given the schools history of staff and sexual abuse, I would have thought it would be better.

The Kings School Canterbury

@StandingSideBySide which school is that infographic for?

@ForRealTurtle
Doing good deeds didn’t help with profit or raise money. It was an expense to the school and the fee paying parents.
The schools never had to pay this tax, it is a completely new tax. There was no saving previously on the school not having to pay it because it never existed.

It is not disingenuous to say local businesses make money from the school. If the school didn’t exist parents wouldn’t be coming to stay in the hotels, spending money in the restaurants and shops. Flying in from abroad. Renting cars, using taxis etc the list is endless.
Also, of note, you will find whilst many schools are significantly reducing benefits to local state school children, they haven’t stopped entirely.

I would be full of self shame if I honestly thought an institution could raise my child better than I could.

@StandingSideBySide Saying the school supports the community because parents spend money in local businesses is disingenuous.
I deliberately quoted one of your examples of something the school is stopping i.e. use of the schools sports facilities, which has no or a very low cost to the school. You came back explaining why they can no longer provide free scholarships - the highest cost activity you quoted.
Lots of private schools did local community things to keep their charitable status as it saved them money. Overall it helped them make more profit. And that is all that mattered. As soon as those things do not help them make more profit, they ditch them.

@ForRealTurtle Nope @StandingSideBySide has it exactly right. It's the parents who foot the bill not the business and when it gets that unmanageable the school has to stop and think

@Givinganopinion Because lots of local independent businesses do care about their community. I know just in my area the pub runs fundraising events for a local hospice. A cafe will provide a free meal to anyone homeless. Another local business is very involved in a local scheme to improve the environment for local wildlife. They do it because they care about the issues and the local area.
Private schools who abandon any attempt at doing anything for their local community as soon as it does not benefit their profits, makes it clear that the only thing they care about is profits.

The school supports the local economy in millions every year.
Hotels and restaurants when parents come to stay for example.

The issue is the school would have to ask much higher fees in order to support other peoples children. In the past they did that because historically they didn’t have to pay this tax.
Now the tax has made it impossible and unfair to expect parents to continue to foot that bill.
Reducing these free services means the schools bills reduce and more parents can continue to use it.

@ForRealTurtle and why the fuck should they? Really? I would love to know.

@corkindigo Oh I have been "told" have I? That is exactly what's happening here. The Labour party are looking to destroy the private sector by telling people. By diktat. That's fine. But let's not be coy and pretend they aren't doing anything else... It's like me being "outnumbered" so I have to change my position you have rather given yourself away there. Make it more taboo and then it gets quietly closed as an option.... So afraid I think you are a sheep. Following a political lead you have been given and yum, yum. Ain't you lapping it up?

My work means I know how you set someone up down a road and then let them run...

I won't use any examples from that mind as it's a bit outing but I will use the case in Sense and Sensibility where when Henry Dashwood dies and he makes his son John promise to care for his stepmother and three half-sisters. Soon enough the wife, Fanny, goes to work convincing him that actually he didn't mean that it was supposed to be financial support and it ended up being that he shared with them a trout or two from his stream I think it was. Set someone off who is narrow minded, and it's amazing where you can go.